# I'm giving and Epideictic speech in my rhetoric class praising pipe smoking



## Some Dark Holler (Oct 29, 2007)

For those of you who don't know, an Epideictic speech is a speech praising or blaming something. It's going to be our midterm and the professor allowed us to pick any subject, so I of course picked one near and dear to me: pipe smoking. I just thought you guys might find it interesting, and if you have any ideas for stuff to include then by all means let me hear them.


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## Cheeto (May 10, 2007)

That's a great subject to cover. I would go into the culture of pipe smoking, sounds like a speech you'll have a lot of fun with!


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## JacksonCognac (Nov 12, 2007)

I find that having a good topic that you are passionate about makes all the difference when delivering a speech. Have fun out there!


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## smokehouse (Jan 31, 2007)

Cool!! Good Luck with your speech. When your done with it I'd be interested in reading it.


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## Slow Triathlete (Jun 14, 2007)

Make sure that you cover that if there wasn't such a anti-smoking push then a lot of money wouldn't be made in the pharmaceutical business (pills and patches to stop smoking). Also the healthcare industry wouldn't be getting huge government grants to study the evils of smoking and cancer studies (grants paid for by you and me). In addition you might want to mention that 70% of all cancers occur in non-smokers.

The government doesn't care about our health. It is all about money. If it's so bad then why don't they make it illegal you ask? Because there's no money in it. It's the same as finding the cure for the cancers mentioned above. There's no money to be had in a cure. But if you come up with a bunch of medications to just treat the symptoms, then you have a gold mine on your hands!

Okay, I'm off of my soapbox. Feel free to ridicule my opinions.


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## Mister Moo (Sep 8, 2005)

If it was my speech I would shine my shoes, stand tall, dress smartly and blame Root, IHT and Escudo. It is possible there could be praise for the Forum Pipe. But blame. I think it's all about blame.

Hey man. Given the great proporation of vociferous non-smoking anti-tobacco doo-doo heads out there, I'd say your speech had better be right, tight and stellar. I haven't noticed much appreciation of the art from the other 75% lately, save from the occaisional cutie who sez, "Ummm. That smells SO nice. It reminds me of my grandfather before he died."

Does the prof smoke?


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## Some Dark Holler (Oct 29, 2007)

Well I'll be damned, two more Carolina boys.

Anyway, there will be no ridicule from me Triathlete, I totally agree with you.

I'm quite aware that this is going to be a tough slog knowing how fierce the anti-smoking movement is in this country, but I think that will be part of the fun. Unfortunately, Moo, the professor doesn't smoke, as far as I know.


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## Mister Moo (Sep 8, 2005)

Some Dark Holler said:


> Well I'll be damned, two more Carolina boys.
> 
> Anyway, there will be no ridicule from me Triathlete, I totally agree with you.
> 
> I'm quite aware that this is going to be a tough slog knowing how fierce the anti-smoking movement is in this country, but I think that will be part of the fun. Unfortunately, Moo, the professor doesn't smoke, as far as I know.


While I honor the craft of the pipe and your sincerity this sounds to me like putting your right hand in a car door and slamming it shut with your left. But as Admiral Farragut said, "Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!"

Praise the tradition, praise the history, praise the craft, praise the rare thing that is a perfect briar and a perfect, matching tobacco. Praise the brotherhood. D**n the rest of them! Carry a sword.


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## Slow Triathlete (Jun 14, 2007)

Some Dark Holler,

PM me your email address. I have a good article about the pipe smoking tradition that I'd like to send you.


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## ButchA (Dec 17, 2007)

Sounds great! Best of luck with the speech. The only thing I could add (but can't find the link) is when I looked up the medical issues regarding smoking. I think it was from the American Medical Association or Cancer Society. I can't remember which...

But the story was a ranking of the worst method of smoking down to the least harmful. _{Remembering the article:}_

*MOST HARMFUL*
1) Marijuana - Not just because it's illegal. But because one single marijuana joint contains the same amount of tar and nicotine as a full pack of cigarettes.

2) Unfiltered cigarettes (Camel, Lucky Stike, etc..)

3) Regular cigarettes

4) Ultra-light cigarettes

5) Cigars

6) Small cigars with the plastic tip (Black & Mild, Swisher Sweets, etc...)

7) Pipe Smoking
*LEAST HARMFUL*

Hope this helps. I can't remember where I read it on the internet but hopefully I can find a link to it and publish the link for you.


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## Mad Hatter (Apr 8, 2007)

In keeping with current politics I would suggest that you tell everyone how great pipe smoking is in your opening statement and then devote the main body of the speech to bashing non-pipe smokers and their evil deeds throughout history. In closing you can state if all of history's evil doers had been pipe smokers the world would have been a better place. :tu


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## SAjunidog (Oct 1, 2007)

Edit: /\/\/\ now that's proper thinkin'!



ButchA said:


> Sounds great! Best of luck with the speech. The only thing I could add (but can't find the link) is when I looked up the medical issues regarding smoking. I think it was from the American Medical Association or Cancer Society. I can't remember which...
> 
> But the story was a ranking of the worst method of smoking down to the least harmful. _{Remembering the article:}_
> 
> ...


How were they ranking them? While it might be true that a joint is worse than a cigarette, it seems like the average fairly serious marijuana smoker would smoke what, 2-3 joints a week. Mean while the average cig smoker is probably way more than 2-3 packs a week. It just seems like you need more data for that to be a fair comparison. It might be a fair comparison, but that list in itself isn't convincing.

Also, as to the "smokers make up only 30% of cancer cases!" from Mr. Triathlete: 
a) that seems like its not all cancers related to smoking, since if not that might include smokers with irrelevant stuff, like leg cancer or something, but won't include the effects of second hand smoke (which, while I agree is way overblown, should not be ignored).
b) smokers make up less than 30% of the population (around 20% iirc).


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## BradSacramento (Sep 19, 2007)

Tape the speech and post the audio and/or video for us to enjoy with you!

Brad


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## paperairplane (Nov 8, 2007)

also considering a joint is good for 4 or 5ppl, that would make it more like 4-5 cigarettes.... 

plus, marijuanna could be smoked via water bong, pipe, etc that would lower the overall tar content


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